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Wednesday December 21, 2005 11:59 am
How To: Add Surround Sound To A Standard Office Chair
I’ve been needing a new computer chair for a long time now, along with new computer speakers. I finally decided to go out and get them, and as I was shopping I couldn’t help but think about the prospect of combining the purchases, with the end result being a hybrid office chair-surround sound system. Sure, they make them - but doing it yourself is a lot cheaper, plus it would satisfy the geek within. Read on for details on how to do the same.
Here is what we used for the project:
- A high back office chair
- 5.1 Surround sound speaker system for Computers (We used the Creative Inspire P5800)
- Exacto Knife/Razor Blade
- Soddering Iron or Heat Gun
- Screwdriver
The first step is to dismantle the two surround sound speakers and get them out of the casing. All speakers are different, but most simply consist of 4 screws that you have to remove. If you happen to get speakers that have the wire directly hooked into the casing, you have to get the cable out of the case. The picture above is the inside of the speaker casing where the wire goes through. It’s tough to tell, but the white blob around it is tons of hot glue. This is where the soldering iron or heat gun come in. I used the soddering iron to melt the glue and any plastic that was in the way of the wire.
After a bit of work, we were able to use the screwdriver and soldering iron to separate the speakers from their casing, which you can see above. The next step is to prep your chair.
To make sure you cut the right size hole for your speaker, use the front facing of the speaker to trace out a circle. Using a razor blade or Exacto knife, cut the fabric away from the chair first. Beneath is the cushion. When you cut the cushion out, be sure to make that hole just a bit smaller than the circle you traced out to cut the fabric. This will ensure a snug fit for the speaker housing.
Above is an image of the speaker, now resting in the chair enclosure. Now, the method of feeding the cable is a direct result of the kind of chair you use. Since our speakers are close to the edge of the chair, we were able to easily feed the cable around to the back of the chair down to the bottom. The speakers we’re using have a smaller face plate which surrounds the speaker and attaches to the main face plate. To make the chair more presentable I attached those plates to the front of the speakers, and the end result came out pretty nice. Much better than my horrible cutting job on the PSOne LCD Mod.
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Comments:
Clever, good quality and everything? and do you have to have the wires trailing on the ground or what?
I managed the wires down the center column of the chair. There is enough slack on surround sound speakers to give yourself plenty of room to move.
how are you getting the full range of quality sound from a midrange, especially in a chair that absorbs the sound? I switched to floor standing speakers and the difference is HUGE!
If I could get wireless speakers I would already have one made! I mounted my speakers outside of my chair just to get a sound check and found the wires to be troublesome. Great job on the snazz chair.
this is fine and dandy if you can live with that.
However please read on as to why its not a great idea.
Those speakers are designed to be inside a certain sized enclosure. You have now removed them. Also most inexspensive speakers have ported and tuned enclosures to get the most mid “selling” bass out of them.
Then you have to thread wires though.
Every one would be much better off going to Home Depot or equivilent hardware store and purchasing 1/4"x2” aluminum plate bars You can buy them in 4 foot sections Cut them in half and drill holes in them. You can then mount them to the metal backing of the chair and use any wall mountable speaker such as the $30 logitech speakers at best buy all the way up to a pair of Bose Acustimas speakers.
If you really want to get into it you can use a blow torch to heat the plates and bend them in so that the speakers are at a more optimal location.
You can also paint the aluminum black or even have it anodized black for a proffesional finish.
It would be cheap and easier to do and best of all Reversable…
there are way to go wireless with this option as well but that would take much more time and money
Now that I have said all this im going to home depot PEACE
dude good idea but you are missing alot that could be done to it.
with only 2 speakers it isnt exactly surround sound. when i built mine i took my ordinary stereo 450 wats 5.1 i sawed 2 holes in the back of the chair and inserted 2 six inch normal speakers sawed a hole in the bottom and inserted the subwoofer into the chair like the other two, then took my two tweeters and put them on the armrest screwed in diagnoly so that they are facing me. with all of this i have a complete surround sound system and the best part is that i can hook it up to anything that makes noise. o yeah it also vibrates like a mother ###### so it is essentually a massage chair when you turn any music on.
you should totally look into adding speakers to the back and a sub underneath it is ####### awesome
Farden
12/28/09 4:24 am
Very Nice!, i was thinking of making a reclining armchair into a workstation, with the speaker idea just like yours.
I was thinking to have a floating screen off a swinging arm attached to the back and a small ledge across both arm rests for the keyboard and mouse, with the comp going under the seat behind.
Thanks for the help!
building materials london
6/29/10 1:52 am
This is brilliant, I really didn’t think it would be possible to create a chair of your own in this way and build in your own speakers. I have a chair I really don’t want to replace but I would love to customise it in this way! Great blog thank you.
Paul "ijoy massage chair"
8/24/10 7:17 pm
Very innovative .... your works is very details and clean, i’m not sure that i can do as good as your ...
But the speakers placed too near to someone’s ears who sits on that chair. Maybe it can annoying for some people ... 
rosecamoro
9/23/11 5:42 pm
Nice idea! clever one for a chair you can sell it on ebay and make money, furtune and profit out of it.
Massage chair
10/12/11 5:05 am
WOW! This chair looks amazing and so relaxing. Good for the employees who are spending 12 hours a day in their offices.
Comments: Page 1 of 1 pages
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